Sports participants depend on auditory cues to alert them of certain occurrences during sporting events. For instance, the firing of an official's starter pistol may indicate the start of a race, the blowing of a referee's whistle may indicate the end of a play, and the yelling of a coach may indicate a need for a timeout.
If a sports participant is deaf or has difficulty hearing, then he or she may not be able to detect these auditory cues. Instead, he or she may depend on sign language and other visual cues to gather information and communicate with others. However, sign language and other visual cues do not alleviate the problem when the sports participant is not aware that the coach or the referee is trying to alert him or her in the first place. This occurrence often happens because neither the coach nor the referee is in the line of sight of the participant. Consequently, the participant may continue to play oblivious to auditory cues indicating a stoppage in play. This continuing of play could ultimately lead to team miscues, lost championships, and even physical injury.